Miss W -->

 
   Wednesday, November 02, 2005  

Miss W is back!

I am here, and I am alive. And I am far from 'clever.' I am a heaping mushy mess of a woman. To say that I am hormonal would be an understatement. To say that I am in love would not do justice to the true depth of my feelings. I think it's time for a birth story, from my perspective, from what I know of the events leading up to the birth of the lowercase.

I seem to recall writing a post about contractions that I had off and on all day last Thursday, October 27. I finally realized at 9:00 p.m. that I might actually be having contractions and made a call to the peri. He told me that he didn't think they sounded like they were productive and that I should call the office at 8:30 to schedule a quick check to be certain. He advised me to keep track of them overnight and if I had more than 6 in an hour I should come in to labor and delivery to check what was going on.

I counted and recorded every slight contraction until 1 am when I fell asleep. Mr. W had been called back in to work due to some catastrophic system failure or another (please note my sarcasm; I somehow doubted it was important, but the VPs of several other departments at his corporation thought it was). He arrived home at 2:30 am and I rolled onto my left side as he crawled in bed beside me.

At 4:51 am, I woke up. I don't remember feeling any kind of pain that might have caused me to wake. I only knew that I felt extremely uneasy. I reached up above my head and began quietly petting the cat who was curled up against my forehead. And then it hit. A contraction. I wrote the time down and continued petting the cat. At a bit before 6:00 am, I realized that I had already counted 13 contractions. I rolled over and gently woke Mr. W.

I asked him if he thought I should wait until 8:30 and call the office since, you know, this really wasn't anything real, or if I should call now. He answered with the obvious, "Call the doctor NOW while I jump in the shower to try to wake up."

I had many more contractions on the way in to the hospital. Upon reaching labor and delivery, they were hitting at 3 minutes apart, yet they didn't hurt so I was still convinced I wasn't in labor. A resident did a speculum exam and said that I was definitely dilated and that he thought he saw something, but could he get the chief resident to look because he wasn't sure what he was seeing. The chief resident confirmed that my membranes had not been ruptured, but I was 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced.

My peri's office was called and I was rushed into a high risk delivery room where a magnesium sulfate wash was connected to my IV in an attempt to stop the contractions. Alone it didn't work, so endocine pills were added every 6 hours. At 9 am Friday, October 28, I was given a steroid shot to try to mature my son's lungs with another steroid injection given on Saturday at 9 am. I stayed on the mag and endocine through mid-day Sunday (October 30). This was the exact duration needed for the steroids to reach maximum effectiveness. After the labor-stopping drugs, we wanted to clear my system and re-evaluate the situation. This would give us a way to determine if we had merely stalled labor while on the drugs or if we had truly stopped the labor.

By midnight the contractions began coming closer again. And they were increasing in intensity. Additionally, I could NOT lay on my left side. Every time I did, my lungs felt as though they were being crushed and I just couldn't get any air. If I rolled onto my right side, my bladder was irritated -- I kept having to get up to pee...and I peed a lot each time...but I hadn't had any fluids in over 3 hours. I laid on my back, but then I just felt so heavy and uncomfortable. Something was not right.

Around 1:30 am on October 31, one of the residents came over from labor and delivery to the high-risk antepartum unit where I was staying to examine my cervix. He watched the frequency and intensity of my contractions and determined that I was 3 1/2 cm dilated, though he felt I was only 80% effaced. Regardless, he knew it was time to move me to labor and delivery. I was immediately placed on a stretcher and the nurses ran with me around the corner to the labor and delivery unit. It took under 5 minutes from the exam done by the resident before I was in L&D and a resident working at my peri's office was examining me. 4 1/2 cm dilated, 100% effaced, contractions increasing, water still unbroken.

The peri on call from my office was called into the room and the announcement was made: Let's have a baby. They quickly did an ultrasound to see if there was a chance the lowercase had changed position, but we had no such luck. He was still complete breech. We were having a c-section in 30 minutes when the anesthesiologist was finished getting things going with an emergency procedure in the ER.

Obviously, I'm just now getting to the really interesting part of this story, but it's after midnight and I need to take some pain meds, eat some pie, pump some milk and go visit my son. Check back soon for the next installment of the birth of a lowercase.

   [ posted  @ 12:11 AM ] [ Post a Comment ] [ View Comments (5) ]
   [ E-mail this Post ]



  Comments about my post, "Miss W is back!":
I'm so glad you're back! I've been frantically checking for updates and can't wait to hear more.
Thank you for the email and the update. I know it's bothersome that we worry but we do. Now...all we need is a name!! I know, soo demanding!
I am glad everyone is doing okay. I keep checking back for updates. I hope you can get some rest.
Really glad you are ok and that lowercase also appears to be ok. May he grow quickly.

You are all in my thoughts.
vWhat a whirlwind. I really hope you son is doing well.


 
[=
Archives=]
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
February 2010
May 2010
June 2010
March 2011
April 2011
August 2011


[=Links=]
A Little Pregnant
Barren Mare
Broken or Not
BrooklynGirl
Chez Miscarriage
Fractured Fairytale
Hardscrabble
Here Be Hippogriffs
Horkin Ramblings
Never Ever Late
One Pink Line
The RE's Muse
Scrambled Eggs
So Close
Uncommon Misconception
The Unproductive Reproductive
Wasted Birth Control


[=Powered By=]


[=Designed By=]


Customized by Miss W
Scripts / Code by "Mr. W"


Send Miss W. E-Mail!